Should There Be More Coverage of Heartland Rugby?

East Coast - another cinderella story of NZ rugby!

It's a big day for New Zealand provincial rugby with the ITM Cup Premiership Final tonight between Wellington and Canterbury as well as the Meads Cup Final and Women's NPC Final between Canterbury and Auckland.

And if you're still feeling deprived of rugby after all that, there's the Lochore Cup Final on Sunday afternoon from 2:30pm.

All games will be televised on Sky - sorry for the ad pitch, but it is true.

Indeed, the ITM Cup Premiership and Women's NPC Finals are the only finals this weekend to be played away from Te Waipounamu - that's South Island if you haven't been watching Simon Dallow and Wendy Petrie of late - although Wellington is pretty close to the Mainland as the crow flies.

Tasman v Hawkes Bay was a cracker last night!

The other 3 finals - including last night's thriller in Nelson between Tasman and Hawkes Bay - are to be played in God's own land - a place I'm glad to be on for this Labour Day weekend with both Heartland Rugby finals played in Ashburton and Timaru - only an hour apart on State Highway 1.

It's a shame that this is the only time of the year that New Zealand rugby followers get to watch the Heartland Rugby live and uninterrupted by ads.

Rugby in the provinces has experienced a resurgence since the expansion of the ITM Cup and conception of the Heartland Rugby Championship. This is evident on TV with the good crowds in Napier, Whangarei, Nelson, Blenheim, Invercargill and New Plymouth but also in the Heartland hubs like Ashburton, Ruatoria, Taumaranui and Westport, etc.

It's a shame that in the eyes of the New Zealand media, New Zealand's rural rugby competition, one that often requires players to make at least one flight stopover at a main hub to get to their games, doesn't warrant as much coverage as the ITM Cup - which has admittedly diminished too - and Super Rugby and All Blacks.

This is after all as the name says, the heart and soul of New Zealand rugby and one where the everyday joes play unlike those well-paid superstars in the cities who are starting to feel like those poncy Premier League footballers.

Indeed, this is where plumbers, lumberjacks, farmers, electricians in the week become heroes on the rugby field on the weekend, and dream to step and run like the Dan Carters and Julian Saveas of this world.

I'm not suggesting all games should be televised but I reckon Sky should consider televising one feature Heartland Rugby Championship game a weekend - maybe it could be during the Saturday 12:30pm slot before the first ITM Cup game of the afternoon - along with the excellent highlights show that is sort of hidden amongst Sky's varied programming.

If not Sky, then maybe this could be one for Sommet Sports to consider - it could be the big thing that could really finally make Sommet a player in the New Zealand sports broadcasting market.

Mid Canterbury are flying again

Anyway, in the Meads Cup Final, Mid Canterbury will be looking for their first title in the Heartland Championship era when they host North Otago in Ashburton. Glenn Moore will be hoping his former side don't manage to get revenge on them at the wrong time - the green and gold beat the gold and blue in Oamaru by a solitary point in the regular season.

Then tomorrow, South Canterbury host Buller in the Lochore Cup Final in Timaru with Buller looking for an unprecedented double. South Canterbury have overcome the woes of a few seasons ago when players were caught abusing staff on an Air New Zealand flight to become a contender in the Heartland Championship.

Marty Banks - a Lochore Cup winner last season

But Buller have been one side who have really benefited not just from the Heartland Championship but the creation of the Tasman Makos side to play in the ITM Cup. Indeed, now-star, Marty Banks was a Buller man himself before making his name for the Makos and earning a Super Rugby contract with the Hurricanes.

God, I love Heartland Rugby!!